San Luis Potosí, SL—Of all the beverages that can claim pre-Hispanic origins, tepache is the one most likely to still be made in the modern Mexican home. It is also one of the few traditional drinks known continuously throughout Mexico, from peninsula to peninsula, as they say.
Tepache, by most definitions, is fermented pineapple, but this is not exclusively what defines the drink. In fact, most tepache vendors will have lacquered barrels that explicitly say “tepache de piña” (pineapple tepache) if that is in fact what they are selling. Otherwise, tepache as a category is something more abstract–a lightly fermented fruit beverage usually made with spontaneous fermentation and sweetened with sugar or piloncillo (hard brown sugar.) Looking at the diversity of tepache in Mexico, and even some definitions of fermented pineapple, we can see how complicated the drink can be.
On several occasions, I have had the opportunity to make tepache with Mexican families. With homemade pineapple tepache, it is clear that no two families are going to process the drink in the same way. Aunts and mothers are often consulted to confirm fermentation has reached an optimal level. Sugar is always added to taste.
One of the times we made tepache, the recipe exclusively called for pineapple rinds. We enjoyed a pineapple then covered the rinds with water in a pot with a cloth over it for 5 days. The resulting liquid, which had a film of white goo on the surface, had turned the rind dark green and any remaining flesh was a bright and saturated yellow. The yellow liquid was racked off
Without sugar, the drink tasted of sour beer with a refreshing edge. Sure, you can tell there’s some booze, but it’s mostly a smoothly sour sip. Once cold and sweetened with sugar, it is as refreshing as any lemonade. Another recipe had both pulp and the rind of the pineapple included. We fermented this one even longer, although the final days of fermentation took place in the refrigerator.
It is interesting to note that tepache, when made with only rinds, is basically a free drink. You can eat your pineapple, ferment your rinds, and then drink that too. Unfortunately, I suspect wax coatings common on fruits and vegetables in the United States would mean American pineapples wouldn’t have the necessary microbiota on their rinds to ferment into a drink.
While these two pineapple tepache recipes are different, tepache is not just made from pineapples. I have heard of tamarind, apple, banana, huapilla and even agave stalk (called quiote) versions of the drink. Indeed a well known Mexico City vendor, Oasis Tepache in Hidalgo Market, makes their well loved tepache with the pulp and rind of the pineapple, apple, and tamarind. Some recipes include a spectrum of spices like cinnamon, pepper, and cloves.
Más allá del pulque y el tepache: las bebidas alcohólicas no destiladas indígenas de México lists the drinks tepache de jobo and tepache de ciruela among the pre-Hispanic ferments that likely still exist today. These two are made from wild, foraged, seasonal fruits around Mexico.
Meanwhile, a 1791 report from the Spanish government lists two recipes for tepache:
“Tepache: White pulque is mixed with brown sugar and boiled with anise. The hours spent in cooling it are of benefit to its strength.
Tepache Comun: From the sediment which the Pulque Tlachique deposits daily, a quantity is collected, which is dissolved in water. To this is added dark honey, pepper, and a corn leaf; with little diligence it ferments.” (Wilson)
And it’s not just that tepache isn’t always made from pineapple–apparently fermented pineapple is not always tepache. Oaxaca City’s legendary horchatera, Casilda Flores, who sold horchata, agua fresca, and cerveza de piña gave an interview to the city’s Dirección de Educación Cultura y Bienestar Social when she was still alive. In the interview, she discusses a pineapple beer, or cerveza de piña, that her aunt made:
“This drink is not tepache, but a fermentation of the rind of the Criolla pineapple; it must be left to ferment until it is beer and not tepache, this is very delicious. And the difference that exists between pineapple beer and the tepache is that the beer is made only with the rind of the Criolla pineapple and the tepache includes the peel of the Castilla banana, cinnamon, brown sugar, a little bowl of toasted corn, a Choapan pepper, the rind of a pineapple and also a piece of wood I can’t remember.”
She later notes that pineapple beer no longer existed by the time the profile was published in 1989–an extinct Mexican beverage. The tepache recipe given by Flores illuminated how complicated it can be–it’s a fermented fruit punch packed with rinds, peels, and spices of all kinds.
In other definitions of tepache, there is some discussion that it may be made with a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts) called tibicos or water kefir. Some theories suggest that water kefir SCOBYs originate in Mexico.
While this may be true, and some usages of tepache likely capture water kefir, we can also see them as distinct. Tibicos is based on a specific kind of microbial starter that lives in a gel like colony. Often, tepache is just a spontaneous fermentation with no intentional starters added.
We can also see in an 1850 publication listing foods potentially infected with a cholera outbreak, the two drinks are separate: “All of the pulque that’s not pure, or entirely fresh, called atajo, and also chia, horchata, chicha, tibico, and tepache.” (Voz de la Religión, 1850-05-22) An 1891 bulletin out of Puebla confirms the idea defining tepache as “coming from the fermentation of brown sugar in a maceration of pineapple rind, the juice of the same fruit, and some aromatic condiments like cloves and cinnamon.” Tibico, meanwhile, was “a common beverage prepared with a sugary material that ferments beneath the influence of an unclassified microorganism that carries the same name.” The article also points out that chicha often has fermented pineapple, although malt of some sort is almost always the base of these drinks. (Boletín Municipal, 1891-09-05)
Sure, these are historical complications around what tepache might have meant. Common usage in households definitely points to a refreshing pineapple drink.
But even in modern day commercial examples, the drink is rarely only fermented pineapple. Moreover, fermented pineapple in Mexico is not necessarily tepache either. The concept of tepache is an old one with linguistic and gastronomical roots in pre-Hispanic times. To this day, tepache continues to be a broad category of beverages that rely on natural fruit sugar, processed sugar, and some spices to create a refreshing, lightly alcoholic (~1% abv.) drink sold in every state of the Republic.
Godoy, Augusto, Teófilo Herrera, and Miguel Ulloa. Más allá del pulque y el tepache: las bebidas alcohólicas no destiladas indígenas de México. Unam, 2003.
La Horchatera, Casilda, et al. El patrimonio cultural de la ciudad de Oaxaca: testimonio de oaxaqueños. Dirección General de Cultural Populares, Dirección de Educación Cultura y Bienestar Social, 1989.
Agua fresca is everywhere in Mexico with all kinds of flavors, but almost all of it is sold in the same kind of container. This plastic barrel is called the vitrolero. It has likely been around and full of sweet fruit juices for about a century now, a result of Mexico’s commercialization of glass.
Cassava is a common crop with a curious secret. It is full of cyanide. Raw cassava can kill adult humans, but modern and traditional processing techniques make the tuber edible. In the case of Amazonian people, fermentation makes cassava drinkable. Slightly alcoholic beers made from the root are common across the Amazon Basin.
New Mexico’s most famous cup of coffee contains the flavoring of piñon nut. The coffee is a modern favorite, but the Southwest has a long history of mixing coffee with local products, or even replacing coffee with roasted seeds, roots, and nuts. While piñon is a unique flavor, it is likely the Navajo invented this concoction after the US government introduced them to coffee.
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